Chicopee City Council narrrowly passes petition to increase length of members' terms from 2 to 4 years

CHICOPEE – The City Council has narrowly approved a home rule petition that asks the mayor and legislators to place a question on the ballot to extend members’ terms from the current two years to four years.

The proposal, which needed a two-thirds majority or nine of the 13 city councilors to be adopted, was initially defeated in an 8-2 vote this week. Three councilors were absent, mostly because they were on vacation.

Frederick T. Krampits

Because the proposal must get to the legislators by early next week, it was crucial it passed to appear on the November ballot. The two city councilors who voted against it, Frederick T. Krampits and Ronald R. Belair, agreed to a reconsideration and changed their vote because they said they did not want to block the issue entirely.

If approved by Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette and the Legislature in informal session, the question will be placed on the ballot with a second question asking if the mayor’s term should be extended to four years.

A number of city councilors said they are not in favor of making the change.

“It is an opportunity for people to speak,” long-term City Councilor George R. Moreau said. “I’m not really in favor of four-year terms, but let people decide.”

Councilor John J. Vieau agreed with Moreau saying he likes the two year terms because it gives voters an opportunity to remove members from office who they believe are not doing a good job.

“I think the two-year term is sufficient. I think it shows some accountability,” he said.

Others have wanted to extend the term, saying it brings some consistency to the city and gives councilors more time to tackle and complete bigger projects.

Belair said he voted against placing a proposal to extend the mayor’s term to four years and said it would be hypocritical to turn around and vote in favor of putting a question to extend the City Council term. He did change his vote later but still said he was not in favor of it.

“If we are going to look at extending terms we should look at the whole picture,” Belair said.

Bissonnette is proposing just that. He said he would like to put a question about restructuring city government on the ballot in 2011. Included in the proposal is cutting the number of elected assessors from three to one, merging the two jobs of tax collector and treasurer into one director of finance, cutting the number of School Committee members to seven and reducing the number of city councilors to at least 11. All terms would also be extended to four years.

Councilor Charles M. Swider said now may be a good time to ask about term lengths separate of the other issues.

“If we give people 10 to 12 questions, I think it may be very confusing,” he said.